In connection with the delivery of hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic materials for use in implementing various or different hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material deposition or application procedures, conventional practices have dictated that depending upon, or as a function of, particular predetermined application requirements or parameters, a particularly or specifically structured system be designed, manufactured, and installed. As can therefore be readily appreciated, when considered from a somewhat opposite or reverse point of view or perspective, and as is well known in the industry, different deposition or application procedures require different structural systems to be designed, manufactured, purchased, and installed. For example, different deposition or application procedures may require differently sized hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material supply units or tanks. Alternatively, different deposition or application procedures, comprising, for example, different output material volume parameters or requirements, may dictate or require the use or employment of different hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material metering pump assemblies. Alternatively, still further, different deposition or application procedures, comprising, for example, the minimalization of pressure losses, or the optimalization of pressure values, occurring within the various fluid flow lines or conduits comprising the entire hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic delivery system, may dictate or require that the hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material metering pump assemblies and their applicators be disposed or located relatively close to the hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material supply units or tanks. Along these lines, depending, for example, upon the different locations of the metering devices or applicators, different working pressures operatively associated with each metering device or applicator may be required.
Still yet further, spatial or logistic parameters characteristic of a particular plant or manufacturing facility, that is, for example, the particular product manufacturing or production lines, may dictate or require that the hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material metering pump assemblies and their applicators be disposed or located remotely from the hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material supply units or tanks. Accordingly, it can be readily appreciated that if various hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material delivery systems are to be erected or installed within particular manufacturing facilities in connection with various production lines for implementing various or different hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic material deposition or application procedures, it is prohibitively expensive to in fact incorporate such a variety of delivery systems within any one manufacturing plant or facility, or considered from an alternative point of view or perspective, different manufacturing plants or facilities would have to be erected in order to in fact accommodate such a variety of delivery systems. Alternatively, still further, while a particular delivery system could effectively be converted from one type of delivery system to another type of delivery system, again, the costs involved in connection with such conversion procedures would effectively prevent the same from being economically viable.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved system for the delivery of hot melt adhesive or other thermoplastic materials, wherein the delivery system would be flexible and versatile as a result, for example, of the interchange or exchange of various components within the system, or as a result of the operative extension of the delivery system, whereby various different deposition or application procedures, having or characterized by means of various different operational parameters or requirements, can be readily achieved without the necessity of constructing or erecting a multitude of various different fixed or permanent delivery systems. In addition, there is also a need for a fluid control system whereby the separate fluids being supplied to the various metering devices or applicator heads may be independently controlled so as to be characterized by different pressure parameters or values as required.